Vol. XXIV · Bread Plate 2 of 12baker's percentages, formula, hydration, bread formula, scaling dough, dough weight, salt 2 %, yeast, 烘焙百分比, recipe scaling, professional bakingT

Baker's Percentages.

"Flour 100, water 68, salt 2, yeast 1" is a whole bread recipe, at any size, in four numbers.

In baker's percentages the flour is always 100 % and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour's weight, so the formula describes the dough itself, not one batch of it. A lean French-style bread is about flour 100, water 65–70, salt 1.8–2.2, instant yeast 0.5–1; a sandwich loaf adds fat 3–8, sugar 3–6 and milk; brioche goes to butter 50–70 and egg 50 or more (XXIV.10). Two numbers carry most of the meaning: hydration, the water as a percentage of flour (XXIV.3), and salt, which bakers keep near 2 % of the flour — about 1.2 % of the whole dough, a level that seasons and tightens gluten without stopping the yeast.

Scaling is then trivial. Multiply each percentage by the flour weight, or, if you know how much dough you need — twelve rolls of 80 g, two 900 g loaves — divide that weight by the sum of the percentages to find the flour, then multiply out (XXIII.3). A formula also makes comparisons and corrections easy: a dough that felt too slack at 72 % is made next time at 68 %. The workshop writes a formula.

Below: the grams of each ingredient for the total dough weight and the formula you choose (exact arithmetic: flour = dough weight ÷ the sum of the percentages), the dough's hydration and the salt as a share of the whole dough.

What you will learn
Workshop
Exact arithmetic: flour = dough weight × 100 ÷ (sum of percentages); each ingredient = flour × its percentage ÷ 100. Hydration counts water plus 87 % of milk and 75 % of egg (their water content).

Four numbers, any size

For two 900 g loaves of a lean dough at 100 / 68 / 2 / 1, the percentages add to 171, so the flour is about 1,053 g and the water 716 g, with 21 g of salt and 11 g of yeast. The salt is 2 % of the flour but only about 1.2 % of the dough — which is why bread tastes properly seasoned at a figure that sounds high.

Formulas to start from (flour 100): lean bread, water 65–70, salt 2, instant yeast 1 (or 0.3 for a long, cool rise, XXIV.6); pizza, water 60–65, salt 2.5, yeast 0.3, oil 2; ciabatta, water 75–80; sandwich loaf, milk 60, butter 8, sugar 6, salt 2, yeast 1.5; bagels, water 55–58, salt 2, malt 2, yeast 1. Weigh everything, including water; use a 0.1 g scale for salt and yeast in small batches; and write the formula, not just the grams, in your notebook.

At the stove

Write a bread you like as baker's percentages. Then scale it to make exactly 1 kg of dough and check your arithmetic by weighing the finished dough.

Baker's percentages became standard in professional baking in the twentieth century, especially in the United States and France; Chinese bakeries use the same 烘焙百分比, and steamed-bun makers traditionally reckon water per 斤 of flour (XXVI.3).

Terms

Baker's percentage
Each ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight.
Formula
A dough written in baker's percentages.
Hydration
Water as a percentage of flour (XXIV.3).
Lean dough
Flour, water, salt and yeast only.
Bakers write formulas: flour = 100 %, everything else a percentage of the flour. Lean bread is about 100 / 68 / 2 / 1. For a target dough weight, flour = weight ÷ sum of percentages.

Sources

  1. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.